http://www.jstandard.com en-us http://www.jstandard.com N/A editor@jstandard.com Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:50:55 MDT 20 http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4474/1/--Red%2C-white%2C-and-blue%96--and-Jewish Aremarkably diverse group of famous American Jews celebrate or celebrated their birthdays on the fourth of July. Taken together, their life histories say much about why most American Jews are glad to express their patriotism on Independence Day. In Europe, patriotic appeals were largely based on a mystical appeal to the country's dominant ethnic group, and armies often went to war under the banner of the nation's main Christian denomination. Think of the French going to war to protect their ancient homeland under the Catholic banner of Joan of Arc - or the Germans' infamous appeal to fight for "blood and soil." American patriotism, however, is largely based on the principles that motivated the Revolution - principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, and in the Constitution. It is a type of patriotism open to anyone who supports these democratic ideals and the government based upon them. Nate Bloom Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4450/1/Scandal-scarred-Israelis-losing-interest-in-politics%2C-faith-in-politicians Veteran journalist Daniel Ben-Simon says he entered politics because the current leadership is corrupt and no longer serving the people. Dina Kraft TEL AVIV - These days, even a call to an Israeli telephone operator for a listing can prompt despair over the state of Israeli politics. Asked for the number of the Israel Democracy Institute, an operator asks a reporter, "But where is our democracy?" It's a question many Israelis are asking these days. Shaken by a string of corruption scandals at the highest levels of government and inundated with media talk of the government lacking direction and responsibility, Israelis' faith in their politicians and their democracy are at record lows, polls show. A recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that only 60 percent of Israelis say they are interested in politics, down from 73 percent two years ago. While high by American standards, the numbers are remarkably low for Israelis, known for being highly politicized. Dina Kraft Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4449/1/Will-talking-work%3F Changing political strategies Two summers ago, Israel was dropping bombs on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and fighting a low-level war in the Gaza Strip with Hamas. Just last September, Israeli fighter jets bombed a site in the Syrian desert that Israeli officials privately described as a nascent nuclear installation. Today, with Hamas' hold on Gaza as strong as ever, Hezbollah rearmed and refortified in Lebanon, and Syria signing new defense pacts with Iran, Israel is eschewing military force for another approach: talking. In the past few weeks, Israel has entered into a cease-fire agreement with Hamas, launched Turkish-mediated peace talks with Syria, told Lebanon it is willing to talk about trading the disputed Shebaa Farms in exchange for peace, and engaged in indirect talks with Hezbollah about swapping prisoners. Why the sudden change of heart? "It's the Middle East - why are you surprised?" quipped veteran Israeli political commentator and columnist Nahum Barnea. "The only unusual thing is the scope: Suddenly at once there are negotiations on several fronts. Taking each one individually, I don't see anything new." Examined separately, each development makes sense on its own merits, and some are the culmination of months-long efforts rather than signs of change in Israeli policy. But taken together, three key factors are driving what may be emerging as a new Israeli diplomatic approach toward its Arab neighbors: Iran's growing sphere of influence, the limits of Israeli military power and, some say, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political troubles. Perhaps the most compelling reason for the latest major development on the Israeli-Arab front, the Hamas-Israel cease-fire, was that Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and pinpoint counterterrorist operations in the strip had failed to neutralize the Hamas threat from Gaza and bring quiet to the residents of southern Israel. The truce that went into effect last week had succeeded - at least until Tuesday, when several Kassam rockets landed in Sderot. It was not immediately clear whether the rocket fire would spell the end of the cease-fire or whether it was a temporary aberration. "Clearly, yes, we're seeking political solutions because we recognize how difficult it is to find military solutions," said Yossi Alpher, a former director of Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies and co-editor of Bitterlemons.org, a Palestinian-Israeli Website. "Certainly it's very hard to find military solutions for the Iranian-supported, non-state actors we're facing in Hezbollah and Hamas," he said. "This is one of the explanations for the way the Hezbollah war ended and the cease-fire with Hamas." Having learned firsthand from his 2006 experience in Lebanon the pitfalls a major military incursion into hostile Arab territory could carry - heavy Israeli casualties, uncertain outcome, lack of an exit strategy - Olmert passed on his preference for an IDF operation in Gaza and, listening to the advice of his cabinet and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, opted for the cease-fire. This truce is part of Israel's strategy to neutralize threats from a range of Iranian proxy militias and allies along its borders, including Hezbollah and Syria. In Israel's talks with Syria, the Jewish state is most interested in removing Damascus from Iran's orbit and choking off Iranian support for Israel's enemy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. The thinking behind this is twofold: If talks are successful, Iranian power and influence would suffer, and Iran would be in a worse position to use its proxies in Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere to respond to a potential Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Second, merely engaging Syria in negotiations and holding out the promise of embrace by the West motivates Syrian moderation and slows Syria's slide toward the fundamentalist regime in Tehran. "It's very important that there are negotiations," said Shlomo Avineri, a professor of political science at Hebrew University. "When there are negotiations, you don't shoot. The question is what happens when you get to the finish line of negotiations." In theory, the same goes for Hezbollah and Hamas. "Iran is today the prism through which Israel looks at all of its security issues," Alpher said. "If we're negotiating with Syria, it's because of Iran. Hamas, too, is seen as part of the long arm of Iran." But Israeli officials take pains to point out that there is a key difference between the peace tracks with Syria and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, and indirect communication with the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah, both designated terrorist groups. "There are no direct talks with Hamas," David Hacham, Arab affairs adviser in the Israeli Defense Ministry, told JTA. Moreover, he says, the fact that all these developments are happening simultaneously are mere coincidence. The government always has been interested in doing whatever is necessary to advance peaceful relations with its neighbors. And, he notes, this is not the first time Israel has conducted peace talks with Syria, reached a cease-fire with Hamas, or had indirect contacts with Hezbollah over a prisoner swap. "It's a coincidence," Hacham said. "There is no change in Israeli policy." But Michael Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, says Olmert is turning Israel toward negotiations in an attempt to save his government. "He's generating a raison d'etre for the government," said Oren, the author most recently of "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East." Israeli political analysts are divided over whether or not the multifront negotiating push constitutes an attempt by a scandal-plagued prime minister to deliver something historic during his term, or whether it's a cynical ploy by Olmert to outmaneuver his political opponents and appear indispensable so he can stay in office. Oren says he does not believe Olmert would cede the Golan Heights to Syria merely to stay in power, but he does believe Olmert is steering his government leftward, toward negotiations, to preserve his coalition. "Certainly it doesn't hurt him politically," Oren said. "His only hope is to maintain a left-of-center coalition." The prime minister rejects such insinuations. "The prime minister and the government he heads are fully committed to seeking and achieving peace with all of Israel's adversaries," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement to JTA. "This has always been Israel's position and it will spare no effort to achieve these goals." Ultimately, Oren says, Olmert's turn toward negotiations, particularly with Hezbollah and Hamas, sends a very dangerous message. "What we have now is very weak diplomacy," Oren said. "We're negotiating with Hamas from a position of weakness, and that's the way it's seen in the entire Arab world. We're negotiating with Hezbollah having performed weakly in a war. "We're not negotiating from a position of strength on any of these fronts."   Uriel Heilman Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4448/1/Viewing-the-truce-from-many-sides Calamity or possibility? Verdict out Israeli soldiers at an army base in southern Israel June 11 after returning from an overnight operation against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel's truce with Hamas took effect nine days later. Photo by BPH Images JERUSALEM - Israeli strategic thinkers are deeply divided over the implications of the truce between Israel and the Gaza-based Hamas fundamentalists. But whatever their perspective, most agree that it could have a profound impact on the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. There are several schools of thought: • Dovish optimists hope the truce, or "tahadiyeh," will create a new atmosphere in which genuine peacemaking with all Palestinian factions - moderates and fundamentalists alike - is possible. Leslie Susser Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4447/1/After-cease-fire%2C-questions-about-Shalit%92s-being-left-out Israeli soldier Gilal Shalit has been in captivity since June 25, 2006. JERUSALEM - The Hamas-Israel cease-fire's fiercest critics are those some expected to be its greatest beneficiaries: the parents of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Having pursued a largely low-key campaign for the liberation of their son since he was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen two years ago, Noam and Aviva Shalit have reacted furiously to the exclusion of their son from the Egyptian-brokered Gaza truce. On Sunday, the Shalits filed a petition with Israel's High Court of Justice demanding that one of the key components of the cease-fire - the easing of Palestinian movement across the Gaza border - be blocked until Israel commits to retrieving their son. Roy Eitan Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4446/1/Israel-ponders-peace%2C-politics%2C-and-pitfalls As Israel-Hamas truce begins, Israelis warn war may follow While nowhere near coexistence, Israel and Hamas are trying out an accommodation of sorts with an Egyptian-brokered truce in the Gaza Strip. The deal came into effect at dawn on June 19 and seemed to be holding until late Monday night, when a Palestinian mortar shell was fired into Israel. On Tuesday, several Kassam rockets landed in southern Israel, slightly injuring two people. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite the apparent violations, Hamas said it was committed to the cease-fire, and the rocket salvo elicited no immediate response from Israel.   Roy Eitan Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4424/1/A-night-under-threat-of-fire Leora and Benny Sela have lived at Kibbutz Nachal Oz for 20 years and do not intend to leave because of the rockets. As American Jews engaged on behalf of Israel, we frequently hear about the crisis in Sderot. We receive pleas for money from organizations that say they are helping the area's residents protect themselves and their homes from the seemingly never-ending barrage of rockets from Gaza. Since the rockets began raining down on the region in late 2000, fewer than a dozen people have been killed and fewer than 100 have been wounded. Because of these seemingly insignificant numbers, Sderot earns only brief mentions in mainstream Western media, compared with the more photogenic Palestinians in Gaza whose suffering is exploited by the media-savvy Hamas. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4423/1/Sderot%2C-the-cost-of-idealism If I get wounded, will you leave? Why are you waiting for that to happen?" Above, David Tourgemond shows the devastation to his Sderot home after a kassam rocket hit in March. When Nitai Schreiber's 18-year-old daughter Sheked asked him why he was waiting for her to get hurt before he moved the family away, he could tell her only that the fear of the rockets is greater than the actual danger. "This is the dilemma of the parent and the caregiver," Schreiber said through a translator during an interview in Sderot's community center earlier this month. "[The children] understand their parents are idealists. Their issue is, 'Why do we have to suffer for your values?'" Schreiber and his wife Leora came to Sderot 21 years ago to set up an urban kibbutz, with its focus on social services rather than agriculture. They came to help a town populated largely by immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Arab countries. Now, as executive director of the Gvanim Association for Education & Community Involvement, Nitai Schreiber focuses on what he calls social entrepreneurship. The center has 300 employees and 40 community projects, half of which are in Sderot. As a self-described idealist, Schreiber believes he must stay in Sderot to keep the community strong while it is under fire from the nearby Gaza Strip. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4402/1/-The-rise-and-fall-%97-and-rise-%97-of-Jewess Comedian Sarah Silverman has been described as a "Jewess with attitude." In 1980, Rabbi Jacob Rader Marcus, an octogenarian scholar of Jewish history, decided to title his new book about Jewish women in America "The American Jewess." His publisher, Ktav, told him that was out of the question because the term "Jewess" was, well, offensive. Marcus, more concerned with historical truth than political correctness, didn't really care. He compromised on the title, calling his study "The American Jewish Woman: 1654-1980," but refused to remove the term from his text. "Many Jews today deem it a 'dirty word' and avoid it," he writes in the preface. "I believe it is a neutral descriptive noun and I use it constantly. If for some it has become a term of contempt, it is because Judeophobic gentiles have made it so. I refuse to bow to their prejudice." Daniel Krieger Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4381/1/NORPAC-talks-and-listens-to-major-players-in-Congress Delegates make their voices heard in D.C. (Seated) Senator Menendez (D-NJ), Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), (standing) Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Bob Decheine (Rothman chief of staff), Dr. Bob Goodman of Teaneck NORPAC Mission Chairman Mort Fridman and his two co-chairs, Richard Schlussel and Jeff Weinstein, set a high bar this year for a successful mission to Washington. They wanted 1,000 people to attend the May 21 event to meet with members of Congress. I said that that was a stretch, given that most of the major Jewish organizations struggle to get 200 people to sign up. However, knowing Mort's enthusiasm to be a force of nature, the committee said, "Let's try and see what happens." Ultimately, the mission was a success. In fact, Sen. Joe Lieberman called to talk about the buzz on the Hill about the size and scope of the second largest Jewish mission to Washington in the country. The senator was impressed; after all, the North Jersey Political Action Committee is a young and relatively local organization. Ben Chouake Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4357/1/It%92s-the-economy%2C-stupid On May 18 the Social Action Committee of Congregation Ahavath Torah in Englewood conducted a food drive to benefit the Center for Food Action. From left, food drive coordinator Alex Eidman, volunteers Sammy Glenn and Benjamin Eidman, and Irwin Vogelman, the director of food services for the Center For Food Action Is there a recession? While government and corporate leaders have thus far have avoided using the "r" word, today's economic realities suggest that, word or no word, we're there. A soft housing market, coupled with a very real mortgage crisis; declining employment and a striking lack of industrial growth; a shake-up in the finance industry - witness the stunning recent collapse of Bear Stearns - have combined to create a troubling economic situation for large numbers of Americans. According to a report issued in April by Legal Services of New Jersey's Poverty Research Institute, one in five New Jerseyans - some 1.68 million adults and children - cannot afford to live without some kind of public assistance. The report, "The Real Cost of Living in 2008: The Self-Sufficiency Standard for New Jersey," found that nowhere in New Jersey can anyone live on the state's $7.15-an-hour minimum wage. Lois Goldrich Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4329/1/%91Right-time%92-for-rabbi-to-make-aliyah The Rosner family plans to make aliyah in August. From left are Avigayil, 10, Michael, 2, Rabbi Shalom Rosner, 35, Yehoshua, 11, Dr. Tamar Rosner, 34, Naama, 5 and Avraham, 7. Not pictured is 8-week-old Eliyahu. Congregational rabbis are often hesitant to move to Israel for a very practical reason: Most Israeli synagogues have either part-time rabbis, shared rabbis, or an all-lay leadership. Consequently, they must be prepared to find alternative ways to earn a living, Rabbi Shalom Rosner of Woodmere's Cong. Bais Ephraim Yitzchak is poised to change that reality when he and his wife and six children emigrate in August. He is involved in a new initiative to found a "Western"-style Orthodox congregation. This kind of shul - with a professional pulpit rabbi and a synagogue that is central to local Jewish life - is what most American and British immigrants are accustomed to. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4328/1/--A-new-home%2C-a-new-life Reinventing careers in Israel Rabbi Mordechai Weiss, who made aliyah from Teaneck, is now a tour guide as well as a religious guide. Ronda Israel, a New Jersey school administrator turned Israeli chocolate-maker, encourages anyone contemplating aliyah to think outside the box. "If your heart is here, you will say, 'I can live here and be a productive Israeli. I can take the skills God gave me over a lifetime and do something with them that doesn't have to be the same thing I did before,'" Israel says. While many new Israelis choose to commute or telecommute to their diaspora jobs, others make major career changes in order to earn a living in the Middle East. That's especially true for pulpit rabbis. In Israeli synagogues, there is virtually no such thing as a full-time synagogue rabbi (see related story). Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4299/1/Vaccines-%91An-amazing-gift-to-our-society%92 Arlene Liebman, left, Parenting Center director at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey in Wayne and organizer of the March 25 vaccines discussion there, is pictured with the speaker, Dr. Vera Bennett. Photo by Miryam Wahrman Science Correspondent Most American parents take it for granted that their children will be able to avoid serious infectious diseases, but recent outbreaks of measles in New York City and in other parts of the country have brought the issue of infectious disease prevention via vaccination to the forefront. Because of misinformation and unfounded suggestions of a link between vaccination and autism, some parents have decided to forgo vaccinating their children. The unvaccinated children are at risk of developing diseases that are now rarely seen in the United States, and they put other individuals at risk as well. At a recent program sponsored by the Parenting Center at the YM-YWHA of North Jersey in Wayne, pediatrician Dr. Vera Bennett spoke about childhood vaccines, addressing some of the controversies related to the topic. "We can now vaccinate against 16 preventable diseases," reported Bennett, whose practice, Pediatric Multicare, is in Pompton Lakes. As an example of an effective vaccine program, Bennett said, "We don't vaccinate against smallpox because we've gotten rid of it [through worldwide vaccination programs]. Before the vaccine there were 13,000 to 20,000 cases of smallpox in the United States each year." Dr. Miryam Wahrman Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4271/1/It%92s-good-to-be-Mel-Brooks A Jewish Standard exclusive interview with the 2,000-year-old master comedian Lee Iacocca, founding chair of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, presents Mel Brooks with the Ellis Island Family Heritage Award in entertainment. photo by josh lipowsky It's good to be an American." With those words Mel Brooks, one of only a few people to win an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony, and a Grammy, accepted another award on April 17 at Ellis Island: The 2008 Ellis Island Family Heritage Award in entertainment. Presented by The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, the annual award recognizes Ellis Island/Port of New York immigrants or their descendents who have made their mark on American life. Shortly after the rare public appearance, Brooks sat down for an even rarer telephone interview with The Jewish Standard. He is not a religious man, but anybody who has seen his movies - and witnessed such memorable creations as the "Jews in Space" musical number in "History of the World Part I," his Rabbi Tuckman character in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," or the thick Lower East Side accent of the all-powerful, all-knowing Yoghurt in "Spaceballs" - knows that Mel Brooks is a product of the Borscht Belt brand of humor who embraces his Jewish identity. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4245/1/Hear-the-Mel-Brooks-Interview-on-our-Audio-Files Listen to the InterviewFile OneFile TwoFile ThreeFile FourFile FiveFile SixFile SevenFile EightFile NineFile TenFile Eleven Josh Lipowsky Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4209/1/Englewood-Holocaust-program-to-feature-choir Shirah, the community chorus directed by Matthew Lazar, inset, will perform at the Cong. Ahavath Torah Yom HaShoah program. Shirah, the community chorus of the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, will perform for Englewood's annual Yom HaShoah program on Thursday, May 1, at 8 p.m., at Cong. Ahavath Torah, 240 Broad Ave. The event is co-sponsored by Ahavath Torah, the East Hill Synagogue, Kehillat Kesher, Kol HaNeshamah, and Temple Sinai of Bergen County in Tenafly. The chorus will be directed by its founding director and conductor, Matthew Lazar. Among the speakers are author Martin Schiller, who will discuss his memoir "A Boy's Journey Through the Holocaust," and Rabbis Bruce Block of Temple Sinai and Chaim Poupko of Ahavath Torah. For information, call (201) 568-1315. Jewish Standard Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4207/1/A-community-mourns These are among the many Yom HaShoah programs scheduled in and around the community.   monday [april 28] Holocaust program in Closter The Closter Public Library commemorates Holocaust Remembrance Week with activities through May 2. At 4 p.m., Susan Solel will present a children's program, "A Child's View of the Holocaust." (201) 768-4197. tuesday [april 29] Holocaust program in Closter At 3:30 p.m., Ruth Minsky-Sender's book "The Cage" will be discussed, Closter Public Library. For middle school-aged children. wednesday [april 30] Yom HaShoah in Madison The Drew University's Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study in Madison offers a Yom HaShoah commemoration with Holocaust survivors Ina and Jack Polak, the couple portrayed in the 2007 film "Steal a Pencil For Me," 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Drew University Baldwin Gymnasium. Free. (973) 408-3600. Jewish Standard Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4205/1/Yom-HaShoah Learning and teaching the history of the Holocaust Michael Kontomanolis, a senior at New Milford High School and his teacher, Colleen Tambuscio, a leader in Holocaust education, will speak at the annual Holocaust commemoration of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey. Eleven high students from Jersey City, New Milford, and Overland Park, Kan., are getting to see up close what they have learned about the Holocaust. The trip, from April 19 to 29, was to include Berlin, Prague, and parts of Poland. In Poland, the students were planning to visit the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. The trip is being led by June Chang, language and arts supervisor at the Jersey City school district, and Colleen Tambuscio, a teacher at New Milford High School. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4206/1/About-the-cover This multi-dimensional collage of archival photos, as well as my own personal photographs and prayers and symbols of our faith and nation, was created as my tribute to the Shoah and those who perished. The few who survived are dying, and it is for their children, and the children to follow, to be taught about what happened to our people and the incredible horror of it. There are white roses affixed to the collage to symbolize the hope that still remained in so many hearts thereafter, and of course the purity of the children who perished. Sandra Steuer Cohen Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4182/1/Exodus-in-outer-space Astronaut in space for Passover remembers a fallen Israeli hero Garrett Reisman, center, is flanked by fellow astronauts Mike Foreman, left, and Robert Behnken in the International Space Station during a docking of the space shuttle Endeavour. NASA CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - As Jews around the world prepared for Passover, the festival of freedom, one adventurous soul was experiencing emancipation in a most literal fashion. Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman has slipped the bonds of gravity and won't return to Earth's shackles for approximately two months. Reisman, 40, a mechanical engineer from Parsippany, is the first Jewish astronaut to live on the orbital outpost, a multinational complex that has been under construction for 10 years. For this Passover, living in weightlessness will require adaptation on his part. For example, matzoh is out - the crumbs would be uncontainable. Irene Klotz Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4181/1/Relating-Passover-to-current-environmental-threats This year, the fourth day of Passover and the annual Earth Day both occur on April 22. Hence, this is a good time to consider environmental messages related to Passover and the events and concepts related to the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt: 1. Today's environmental threats can be compared in many ways to the biblical 10 plagues: • When we consider the threats to our land, water, and air, we can easily enumerate 10 modern "plagues." For example: 1. global warming; 2. depletion of the ozone layer; 3. destruction of tropical rain forests; 4. widening droughts; 5. soil erosion and depletion; 6. loss of biodiversity; 7. water pollution; 8. air pollution; 9. an increase in the number and severity of storms and floods; and 10. negative effects of pesticides, chemical fertilizer, and other toxic chemicals. Richard Schwartz Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4180/1/One-family%92s-Haggadah-honors-a-hero-of-the-Holocaust Sixty-five years ago on April 19, the night of the first seder, a handful of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up and fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators. For the first time in 19 years, these dates match. That date is also the yahrzeit of Yaakov Rabinovich, my uncle. An escapee from Treblinka, he knew the Jews were doomed, but he urged them to fight and die with dignity - and to take as many Nazis as they could with them. Our senior play at Esther Schoenfeld High School on the Lower East Side was adapted from John Hersey's popular novel "The Wall," one of the first about the Holocaust. It was 1965, long before the Holocaust was taught. The students, most of them daughters of survivors, wrote it and produced it. I played a man who urged people to fight back and was killed by the Nazis on the first seder night. When it was over, my mother told me I played the role of my own uncle, her brother Yaakov. And then she said nothing more. My parents were both survivors. My dad, z"l, was from Munkacs, survived Auschwitz, a litany of labor camps, a death march, and the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. My mother, a Polish Jew, escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto and was on the Kasztner train, with a group held in Bergen-Belsen, ransomed and released in Basel in December 1944. Jeanette Friedman- Sieradski Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4153/1/Let-them-eat-cake Prices rise but variety grows This we already know: The centuries-old holiday of Passover celebrates the freedom of an oppressed people. This we are beginning to get used to: In the Land of the Free, Passover has become the holiday of the free - yolk-free egg matzoh, glutten-free oat matzoh, sugar-free cookies, lactose- and coloring-free sorbet, and free Haggadot. And not to mention the free items that several supermarkets offer if you spend a certain amount of money there. According to a study done in 2006 by Mintel, a research firm, the kosher food market enjoys more than $100 billion in sales a year. Indeed, supermarket chains and manufacturers have responded to an increasing demand for kosher and kosher-for-Passover items, which has made the observance of the holiday much easier for thousands of American Jews. Daniel Santacruz Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4111/1/The-cranes-are-flying Hula lake Photos by Vadim Levinzon, http://flickr.com/photos/vad_levin/ In early spring of 2000, the year I'd first gone looking for the ivory-billed woodpecker, I went birdwatching in Israel. I had been to Israel before - to study biblical Hebrew, to visit relatives, to work on a kibbutz. Once, in college, I'd even won a fellowship to follow in the footsteps of Herman Melville, who visited the Holy Land in 1857. But I had never gone to look for birds. My guide for my first day of birding in Israel was an ornithologist from Tel Aviv University, Yossi Leshem. A tall, stooped, open-faced man of about 50, Leshem is the king of Israeli birding, an international ambassador of the pursuit, with an easy smile that is half a squint, as if he's looked up so long he expects to see the sun. Jonathan Rosen Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4095/1/Expanding-the-definition-of-kashrut Union dispute fuels kashrut debate A worker at the Empire Poultry plant in Mifflintown, Pa. The factory's workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Thomas b. king When consumers see the OU, OK, or another label certifying that their food is kosher, they know that it was prepared according to halakha. They don't, however, know if factory workers are treated fairly or if a production plant is run safely and with care for the environment. But efforts are under way to change that. The nation's largest union representing food industry laborers has been campaigning to get the world's largest producer of kosher meat to unionize, sparking the question as to whether there is room in the definition of kashrut for such factors as labor rights. "My sense is that within the Orthodox communities people are increasingly aware of and concerned about how their products are being made," said Arieh Leibowitz, communications director of the Jewish Labor Committee. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4097/1/A-look-at-sources This was excerpted from a paper prepared by Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner on behalf of the Hekhsher Tzedek Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The following halakhic teachings are key to the concept of hekhsher tzedek: Wages and Benefits The primary law about employee wages (Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 331:1) holds that "[o]ne who hires employees should treat them in accordance with local custom." But it is one of the features of Jewish business law that expressly ethical concerns are addressed. Bava Kamma 118a: "If one claims [without proof] - you owe me X, and the other does not remember, he should pay, in order to fulfill the demands of heaven." Shulchan Arukh 332:2: "If the employer said, hire for me at 4 and the manager hired at 3, even though the quality of their work is worth 4, they receive only 3 - for that is what they agreed to. But they have reason to be angry with the manager." Jewish Standard Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4096/1/Compassionate-Conservatism Movement creates hekhsher based on ethics When you buy food certified as kosher, how do you know that the manufacturer offers its workers a fair wage and benefits package; provides safe working conditions; doesn't pollute the environment; engages in honest business practices; and, in the case of meat, treats the animals humanely before and during the slaughtering process? And should you care? Jane Calem Rosen Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4065/1/%91Knowledge-is-power%92 Dr. Ariela Noy In 2004, Englewood resident Dr. Ariela Noy, an attractive, vivacious mother of three, went for a routine gynecologic exam. "I had a 'before' in my life, and an 'after' in my life," she said of how her life changed on that day. On Jan. 17, 2005, she received an e-mail message from her oncologist colleague, who wrote, "Your test results are in. You want to come by and chat?" A physical exam the previous November revealed the presence of uterine fibroids, common growths that are usually benign. But genetic testing also revealed that Noy was BRCA positive, that is, she carried a mutant BRCA2 gene. Noy, a physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, understood the implications of that all too well. She was 40, and her genetic test results meant that she already had a 10 percent chance of having breast cancer. She had a 2 percent chance of having ovarian cancer by age 50. Even if she were cancer-free at that point, she could anticipate a 20 percent chance of ovarian cancer and a 40 to 60 percent chance of breast cancer by age 70. Dr. Miryam Wahrman Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4035/1/A-plea-for-%91common-sense%92 Psychologist Michael J. Salamon begins his wise and rueful book about how Orthodox Jewish singles meet (or don't meet) with the transcript of a telephone call that cries out to be reprinted: Caller: Dr. Salamon, I am calling because I have to find out some important information regarding a shidduch. Dr. S.: Of course, you know that I am not at liberty to discuss any private information. Not only is it illegal; it is unethical. Rebecca Kaplan Boroson Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4034/1/Online-dating%3A-A-way-for-couples-to-%91click%92 Virtual introductions can yield real results It's a lot harder for singles to meet, these days - or so everyone says. They work longer hours and the family-oriented Jewish community may not make a place for them. "We don't have many meeting places for singles," said Rabbi Kenneth Emert of Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff. "Maybe we have to return to something like the shadchan [matchmaker] system." Matchmaking used to be a widely practiced profession - and an enthusiastically pursued hobby. Today, however, matchmakers are often electronic. But can you rely on a computer to help you meet your bashert? And is the process safe? Lois Goldrich Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3997/1/---What-to-do-about-Gaza%3F Israel weighs novel ideas to counter Hamas rockets An Israeli rescue worker stands in an apartment that was struck by a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza on Saturday in the coastal city of Ashkelon. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL) JERUSALEM - With Israel still facing Hamas rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip following the end of the army's limited ground operation there, the government is considering stronger follow-up measures. The Hamas rocket problem became more acute last week when Ashkelon, a port city of 120,000 some 30 miles south of Tel Aviv, came under fire. In its attacks on Ashkelon, Hamas used Iranian-made Katyusha-type rockets called Grad missiles, which have a longer range and heavier payload than the Kassams often used against Sderot and nearby towns. Leslie Susser Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3999/1/Bill-condemning-Gaza-rockets-advances-in-Washington A resolution condemning Palestinian rocket attackson Israel from Gaza passed out of the House of Representatives Wednesday. The bill's author, Rep.Scott Garrett (R-5) hopes that it will lead to stronger action to end the attacks against Israeli civilians."Passing this resolution is a stepping stone to helping end the aggressive acts of Palestinian terrorists and ensuring that innocent civilians in Israel live together peacefully," Garrett said in a statement Wednesday."Violent Palestinian groups and terrorist organizations must be held accountable for their horrific acts.Organizations like Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees need to understand that when they attack the people of Israel, the United States and other countries will not remain silent.Unjust actions must not go unpunished."House Res. 951 passed the full House with a vote of 404-1. Ron Paul (R-Texas) cast the dissenting vote.The resolution calls for President Bush to direct the permanent U.S. representative to the United Nations Bill condemning Gaza rockets advances in Washington to introduce a Security Council resolution condemning the rocket attacks. It also calls for U.S. allies in the Middle East to officially and publicly condemn these and other terrorist attacks on Israel."Israel's doing the right thing in defending itself,"Garrett said in a telephone interview after the vote,"and the United states should be calling, as we do for this resolution, for the world community to" condemn terrorist attacks on Israel."I believe the United States should bring [the condemnation[to the world," Garrett said. But, he said, "I am not a big fan of the U.N. in general, and the Security Council specifically…. The U.N. does not ever seem to recognize the right of Israel to defend itself. The challenge of getting [this kind of] resolution passed [in the United Nations] would be daunting, but just because the task is hard at hand does not mean we should not try." Josh Lipowsky Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3998/1/For-U.S.-secretary-of-state%2C-it-always-comes-back-to-Gaza WASHINGTON - For the U.S. secretary of state, it keeps coming back to Gaza. Condoleezza Rice, who saw Gaza come under the control of Hamas after she pressed for an Israeli withdrawal in 2005 and then elections in 2006, is now watching the unruly strip of Mediterranean coastline unravel her much vaunted relaunching of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Rice was blitzing the region this week urging Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Egypt to cobble together a way to keep the fighting from entirely shutting down peace talks. Ron Kampeas Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3967/1/After-Oscar%2C-what%3F Coen brothers set to bring Chabon's novel to the screen The Coen brothers, Ethan, left, and Joel, won Oscars as best directors and their film "No Country for Old Men" took top honors at Sunday's 80th Oscar ceremony. Matt Petit/©A.M.P.A.S. The creative partnership between author Cormac McCarthy and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen netted four Oscars on Sunday night for "No Country for Old Men," including the Academy Award for best picture. But it's the recent news of another Coen brothers project that is generating excitement among Jewish cultural mavens. The brothers have agreed to write and direct the film adaptation of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," Michael Chabon's 2007 novel that envisions a world where Israel lost its War of Independence and the surviving Jews were resettled in Alaska. In some ways, it's a perfect match. Ben Harris Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3966/1/Israeli-filmmakers%2C-supporters-vow-Oscar-victory-next-year In the film "Beaufort," Israeli soldiers acknowledge their fears. Disappointed but not downcast, Israeli filmmakers and their supporters vowed to come back strong next year after the country's entry "Beaufort" lost out in the Oscar race for best foreign-language film. "We have shown that Israel can make very good movies and we will prove it again next time," Eli Eltonyo, one of "Beaufort's" actors, told a cheering crowd of some 350 attending an Oscar party Sunday at the Hollywood night club Avalon. Tom Tugend Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3965/1/Surviving-%91counterfeiter%92---celebrates-Oscar-victory A memoir by Adolf Burger provided the basis for the Oscar-winning film "The Counterfeiters." Karl Marcovics as a key counterfeiter in a scene from the film. Thierry Caro He is the only Auschwitz inmate turned counterfeiter ever to win an Academy Award. Well, he didn't exactly win, but Adolf Burger sure felt like he took home an Oscar on Sunday night when as an honored guest at Hollywood's most schmaltzy film ceremony, he heard "The Counterfeiters" announced as the winner in the Best Foreign Language Film category.  "The Counterfeiters" is based on Burger's memoir, "The Devil's Workshop," published in the 1950s and again in the 1970s in Germany. His book chronicles a little-known Nazi operation that forced 143 concentration camp prisoners in Sachsenhausen, Germany, to make vast sums of English pounds and U.S. dollars in an attempt to destabilize the Allied economies. Dinah Spritzer Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3940/1/Local-JCRC-builds-%91harmony-within-diversity%92 Dan Kirsch talks with members of the Sikh community at a previous Interfaith Breakfast. The big picture Explaining the specific functions of an agency doesn't give the full picture, said Hackensack resident David Kirsch - chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey, a JCPA affiliate - before ticking off the accomplishments of the local group. Kirsch - a past president of Teaneck's Temple Emeth, former chair of UJA-NNJ's Jewish Educational Services, and a member of the Hackensack Board of Education - said he's long been interested in community relations. "A lot of it is intangible," he said. "It's like institutionalized [public relations]. We're out there every day in the community presenting a positive image of the Jewish community and working to build harmony within diversity. We present the face of the Jewish community, and of Israel, to the world." Lois Goldrich Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3939/1/A-%93common-table%94-for-Jewish-communal-groups Leonard Cole Jewish organizations, often known by their initials, can seem like a confusing kind of alphabet soup. But the words behind the initials can tell a story. Take JCPA. In 1944, when what is now the Jewish Council for Public Affairs was founded, the word "Jewish" was not in its name. It was a conscious omission, according to Leonard Cole, a past JCPA president. "There was a greater sensitivity among many Jews at the time," in the midst of World War II, "about advertising their Jewishness." That consideration, he noted in a telephone interview from his Ridgewood home last week, had not deterred the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress, both founded much earlier in the century. Rebecca Kaplan Boroson Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3938/1/JCPA-to-unveil-%91groundbreaking%92-statements-at-upcoming-conclave Jerry Milch The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is set to issue two groundbreaking statements at its annual plenum this weekend, solidifying its positions on the peace process and interfaith relations. For the first time, the organization will issue a declaration supporting a two-state solution in the Middle East. In the past, the JCPA had supported dialogue and the peace process "within reason," said this year's plenum co-chair, Jerry Milch, but it had refrained from making a statement on the outcome so it would not appear to be dictating policy to the Israeli government. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3910/1/In-their-words Polish children upon arrival in Iran. pILSUDSKI INSTITUTE OF AMERICA ARCHIVES The children's testimonies are repetitious, but the repetitions bear out the truth of what happened - even when they differ in detail. Each paragraph below, from Henryk Grynberg's "Children of Zion," comes from a different child. The Coming of the Nazis "My father was a frail man. He had a bad heart and did nothing but study all day. We lived off what our relatives in America sent us." "On Friday, Sept. 1, panic broke out. Poles, Jews, anyone who could was running away in the direction of Lwow…. There was a terrific rush on the train. There was no place to sit or stand. People were walking on top of people; children were trampled…. All the while you could hear shrieking from people who had been robbed, children crying, people shouting." Warren Boroson Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3909/1/A-survivor-who-made-his-mark Henry Ekstein, one of the Children of Tehran, now lives in Teaneck. Henry C. Ekstein of Teaneck has built up a fine reputation as a shrewd, original thinker among management consultants. One of his special insights is that you should try to wrest your solutions from the employees themselves, then let them share the credit for these solutions. "Interactive consulting" is what he calls it. For example, when you present a book of recommendations to the CEO, Ekstein suggests, the names of the employees who helped should be listed first as authors. Warren Boroson Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3908/1/What-have-they-sent-us%2C-children-or-corpses%3F The ordeal of the Children of Tehran Younger children are led away from the train after their arrival at the station in Atlit, where the British kept "illegal" refugees. Photo courtesy USHMM Sixty-five years ago next week, a train crossed the Egypt-Palestine border. Its passengers, some 800 Jewish orphans whose average age was 12 to 13, leaned out the narrow windows to see the land they had been traveling so long to reach - more than three years, more than 12,000 miles. They had suffered cold, hunger, thirst, exhaustion, fear, filth, lice, vermin, ragged clothing, beatings. Dysentery and typhus. Animosity from Poles, Uzbeks, the NKVD, Germans.   Warren Boroson Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3868/1/Parents-laud-%91unbelievable%92-change Jacob Adler Hillel and Debby Adler's son Jacob is a star. He's featured in a video at www.sinaidinner.org that shows what Sinai Special Needs Institute can do for a child like Jacob, confined to a power wheelchair because of cerebral palsy. "Jacob was bouncing around from school to school," Hillel Adler relates on the 90-second clip. "His communication skills were practically nothing," adds Debby Adler. "We thought he could do more than people were giving him credit for," Hillel Adler continues. "And Sinai gave us that opportunity." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3867/1/Teach-your-children-well Sinai celebrates its success at nurturing kids with special needs Rabbi Yisroel Rothwachs and Michael from Fair Lawn take a look through one of Sinai's microscopes. It's always been about the kids. The kids with physical, mental, emotional, or learning disabilities who could not have received a full Jewish education were it not for the Sinai Special Needs Institute. The kids whose numbers seem to grow with each passing year. At the same time, it's always been about the money. A highly individualized secular and Jewish educational program for just one child with special needs costs about $50,000. That number, too, seems to grow with each passing year. So for the past quarter century, the leadership of Sinai has extended its hands to the North Jersey Jewish community in a simultaneous gesture of giving one kind of aid while seeking another. This year is no different. Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3828/1/%60Expatriates%92-take-on-the-Florida-primary%3A-Report-from-Century-Village WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The rancorous Bush-Gore election of 2000 still sticks like a chicken bone in the throat of Democratic voters here, including many ex- New Jerseyans. They are eager to achieve a kind of redemption in 2008, both for their ideals and the world's perception of Florida's "crazy, mixed-up" elections. "That election was stolen, and look where it has landed us," said Selma Altschul, a 35-year former resident of Bergenfield, who cast her vote for Hillary Clinton in West Palm Beach's Century Village, where the residents range in age fron 55 to 109. She belonged to Teaneck's Temple Emeth and was a Bergen County employee for 18 years. "I believe that all the candidates are equally staunch in support of Israel," said Altschul, reflecting the general feeling here that Israel is not an issue in the Democratic primary. The Jan. 29 primary results are an important bellwether for both political parties. Florida is the fourth largest state, polarized as to party and region, with diverse population. Ex-Northeasterners on the so-called Gold Coast (Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties) tend to vote Democratic; the rest of the state Republican. The Republican Jewish Coalition of Florida, headquartered in Boca Raton, hosted two Jewish senators who came to Florida: Joseph Lieberman, who ran for vice president as a Democrat in 2000, and is now an Independent from Connecticut, and Norm Coleman, Republican of Minnesota. Lieberman supported McCain and Coleman came on behalf of Rudy Giuliani, who has since dropped out of the race. On the Republican side of the touch-screen ballot, Julius Weiss, who retired to Florida from Pittsburgh, voted for Mitt Romney. "His Mormonism doesn't bother me," he said. "He is strong on everything I care about: a strong supporter of Israel, strong on the battle against terrorism." Weiss worships at an Orthodox synagogue, and considers himself more conservative than any of the Republican candidates on issues such as pro-life. He called McCain his "least favorite candidate, who would destroy the Republican Party." McCain was the ballot choice, however, of a Republican ex-New Yorker, Howard Silver. Silver stressed the gravity of the world situation. "Anything can happen at any time," he said. "We don't want a newcomer in the White House." He is a veteran who volunteers and teaches at the Veterans Administration Hospital here. Florida is home to many veterans, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who admire John McCain as a hero. Susan Heller, a native of Paterson, is typical of Jewish women here - overwhelmingly Democratic - who voted for Hillary Clinton because they are proud of her as a woman candidate. Clinton also has heavy support among Jewish men who retired to Florida. "I would like to see a Clinton-Obama ticket in November," said Bruce Koenig, a retired college professor from Mount Freedom, near Morristown. Some voters who remember Bill Clinton's two terms warmly confess that they hope to get a "twofer" in voting for Hillary Clinton: the advice and counsel of an elder statesman living right in the White House. The older Jewish Century Village residents who remember the Depression are still heart-felt Roosevelt New Dealers. When asked if they know any Republicans, they always cite a younger relative, a niece, or a grandson. One woman said she cannot mention politics to her Republican niece because the younger woman becomes "hostile." Rebecca Schlam Lutto is a former Teaneck resident and Jewish Standard correspondent. Rebecca Schlam Lutto Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3827/1/Rudy%92s-Jews-expected-to-back-McCain WASHINGTON - Many of Rudy Giuliani's Jewish backers are defecting along with the former New York mayor to the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. John McCain, one McCain official said. Fred Zeidman, McCain's top fund-raiser, confirmed late Tuesday to JTA reports that Giuliani - who had enjoyed the strongest Jewish backing among the GOP candidates - would endorse the Arizona senator in California on Wednesday, before the Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley. Ron Kampeas Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3826/1/Obama-still-seeks-to-quell-Muslim-rumors Shortly before taking the stage with U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy on Jan. 28, Barack Obama was on a conference call with the Jewish media in an effort to quell e-mail smears about his religion and record on Israel. Obama for Change WASHINGTON - A packed auditorium was waiting for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama to receive a pivotal endorsement and his aide was rushing him along, but he had something important to say first - to American Jews. "Before we go, I'd like to add one last comment," the Democratic presidential hopeful told the aide in a conference call with the Jewish news media Monday morning, just minutes before being endorsed by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) at American University here. "My strong and deep commitment and connection to the Jewish community should not be questioned." Ron Kampeas Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3825/1/%91Israel-always-has-to-be-an-important-issue%92 Hillary and Bill Clinton flank Rabbi Menachem Genack and his daughter Rachel Besser in 2007 As Super Tuesday approaches, members of the pro-Israel North Jersey Political Action Committee and other Jewish New Jerseyans have heeded the call to aid their favorite candidates. But while Israel has become a hot topic as candidates try to sway Jewish voters, some supporters say the candidates are equally good on Israel, while others herald their own choices as best for Israel and, therefore, best for the Jews. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3824/1/%91Jewish-States%92-up-for-grabs Ahead of SuperTuesday, candidates seek edge After split decisions in both parties in early primary states, the focus is shifting to Super Tuesday, when states with some two-thirds of American Jews hold presidential primaries or caucuses. New York, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Connecticut are among the 22 states that will be awarding delegates on Feb. 5, and with nominations from both parties still up for grabs, Super Tuesday results could well be shaped by the groundwork that campaigns have laid in building their Jewish outreach operations. Last fall, the campaign for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) created Chai for Hillary, a network of young Jewish professionals in cities across the country. In October, the group drew some 250 guests to an event in Washington with U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).   Ben Harris Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3795/1/In-E.-Europe%2C-recovered-archives-enable-hunt-for-Jewish-dead Ukrainian ballistics expert Misha Strutinksy, with metal detector and spade, searches for clues to a mass grave of Jews in a sunflower field. MICHAEL J. JORDAN BERSHAD, Ukraine - In May, Ukrainian workers laying a gas pipe in a southern village dug into a buried chamber of thousands of Jews killed during the Holocaust. That same month, a construction crew building a new office complex in western Ukraine burrowed into the corpses of several dozen more Jews. Stumbling upon such mass graves is not particularly unusual in Eastern Europe. Michael J. Jordan Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3794/1/Priest-hunts-for-Jewish-graves-in-Ukraine%92s-Nazi-era-killing-fields Father Patrick Desbois, a French Catholic priest on a mission to find the graves of missing Jews in Eastern Europe, in front of the pig farm in Bershad, Ukraine, where some 2,500 Jews were held during the winter of 1941-42. MICHAEL J. JORDAN USTIA, Ukraine - The old man by the pig farm said Jews are buried there. Somewhere. With that tip in mind, an unlikely French-Ukrainian team of investigators drives along a bumpy dirt track, past a watermelon patch ripening under the hot July sun. The road ends abruptly at the foot of a sunflower field. Misha Strutinsky, a square-jawed Ukrainian ballistics expert, leaps into action. Decked out in a beret, fatigues, and combat boots, Strutinsky clutches his spade in one hand and a metal detector in the other. Michael J. Jordan Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3793/1/%91We-can%92t-bring-the-Jews-back%2C-but-we-can-bring-their-presence-back%92 Students from northeastern colleges have restored cemeteries in Lunna, Indura, Svir, Vselyub, Kamenka, and Sharashova. Michael Lozman has helped restore seven Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe. "That's a sizable number," he told The Jewish Standard, reeling off the names of the Belarus burial sites he has helped rebuild: Sopotskin, Indura, Kamenka, Sharashova, Svir, Lunna, and Vselyub. Belarus, located just east of Poland, gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Before World War II, the region was home to a large Jewish population. Lois Goldrich Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3792/1/Sacred-remains On Nov. 1, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated Jan. 27 as an annual international day of Holocaust remembrance. The date was selected to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. While millions of Jews were indeed killed in Nazi concentration camps, it is also true that countless others were gunned down in killing fields throughout Eastern Europe. Even today, many of these blood-soaked sites remain undiscovered. But even areas known to house the remains of murdered Jews are often in disrepair, no more than wild, unmarked fields. Lois Goldrich Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3764/1/Bush-gets-dinner%2C-talk%2C-love%2C-and-hand-holding U.S. President George W. Bush watches as two U.S. Marines lay a wreath from the United States while visiting the Holocaust history museum, Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem on Jan. 11. REUTERS/Larry Downing (JERUSALEM) JERUSALEM - What happens when you invite almost the entire Israeli Cabinet over for dinner? Second desserts and talk past President Bush's bedtime. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's farewell dinner for Bush last Thursday ran until nearly 10 p.m. - past the president's usual 9 p.m. lights out. Bush spent three days in Israel and the Palestinian-populated territories last week spurring renewed peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. Ron Kampeas Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3763/1/Substance-and-symbolism%3A-Parsing-Bush%92s-words President Bush meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Jan. 10. PPO/BBH Images JERUSALEM - Picking apart President Bush's summarizing of his Palestinian-Israeli peace brokering is a little like reading the fine print in the nutritional information on comfort food: There is empty puffery, to be sure, but there are also nuggets of substance. Bush, speaking last Thursday at Jerusalem's King David Hotel, was summing up two days of working meetings with the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian governments, his first presidential visit to the region. Much of what Bush put forward was not new or was symbolic, but there were a few ground-breaking items, including his clearest call yet to the Israelis to freeze settlement expansion and a call for compensation for Palestinians dispersed after the creation of Israel in 1948. Ron Kampeas Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3762/1/MIDEAST-PASSAGE Bush's Arab world tour is significant for Israel President Bush visits the Saadiyat Island Cultural District Exhibition and Masdar Exhibition on Monday, at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Eric Draper/ White House With its focus on strengthening the moderate Arab coalition against Iran, President Bush's tour of the Persian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt could prove extremely significant for Israel. From an Israeli perspective, the three key elements were isolating Iran, coaxing moderate Arab countries into moving toward normalization with Israel, and getting oil-rich Arab states to honor their financial pledges to the Palestinians. Progress on all or some of these issues would significantly boost Israeli foreign policy goals. On Iran, Bush's rhetoric was uncompromising. In a major policy statement in Abu Dhabi, he described Tehran as a threat to world peace and called on America's allies to join the United States in confronting the danger "before it was too late." Leslie Susser Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3730/1/Romney%92s-appeal-includes-hard-line-on-Iran%2C-bipartisan-record-in-Mass. Mitt Romney's pitch to Jewish voters breaks down into three components: His tough line on Iran; his record as a Republican governor who worked well with Democrats; and his belonging to an oft-misunderstood religious minority. Romney boasts a master's degree in business from Harvard and enjoyed phenomenal success during his 14-year career orchestrating leveraged buyouts as the chairman of Bain Capital. As the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, he worked with a Democratic Legislature and an overwhelmingly liberal Jewish community to enact a groundbreaking "Health Care for All" law. He has a scion of a famed Mormon family; his father was Michigan's governor. Beth Young Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3729/1/Giuliani-ducks-his-moderation-as-he-looks-to-future-primaries Rudy Giuliani's admonition in 2004 to Jews who favored President Bush's tough foreign policy but balked at his social conservatism was prescient: "You're never going to find a candidate you agree with completely," Giuliani said at a Republican convention event sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the United Jewish Communties. "You've got to figure out what's important." He might have uttered the same words this year - not to U.S. Jews, who give him high favorable ratings, but to conservative Republicans. Ron Kampeas Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3728/1/Edwards%92-openness-to-Iran-worries-some-pro-Israel-Jews In 2004, John Edwards lost the Democratic presidential nomination because he was considered a foreign policy lightweight. He won the vice presidential slot because his social policies had depth. Four years later, Edwards' social and domestic positions remain pretty much the same - positions that are favored by the vast majority of American Jewish voters. His foreign policies now have substance, too. That's what worries some Jewish voters. Off the record, Jewish organizational leaders say they are alarmed by Edwards' about-face on Iran. Ron Kampeas Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3727/1/Huckabee-grabs-mantle-of-new-breed-of-evangelical-politician Mike Huckabee has some Jewish backing, including from an Orthodox Jewish state representative, but many Jews are alarmed by the Republican candidate's views. Photo courtesy United States Government Like Huckabee was a barely known former governor of Arkansas when he attended an October house party on his behalf at the home of Jason Bedrick, New Hampshire's first Orthodox Jewish state representative. Which is probably why no major media outlets picked up on the Republican presidential candidate's radical proposal that day for the Middle East: a Palestinian state - in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Since winning Iowa's GOP caucuses on Jan. 3, however, Huckabee has had no trouble attracting national attention. Some surveys show him leading nationally and in several key states, including South Carolina and Florida. Ben Harris and Ami Eden Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3726/1/Throughout-his-career%2C-Obama-has-reached-for-Jewish-support Ask about Barack Obama's natural constituencies and you might hear that he's the first black with a viable shot at the White House, or about his Kenyan father and his childhood in Indonesia, or the youthfulness of his followers, or the millions of Oprah junkies swooning over his candidacy. What you might not hear is that the Illinois senator, who made history last Thursday by winning the Democratic caucus in Iowa, has made Jewish leaders an early stop at every stage in his political career. Ron Kampeas Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3725/1/Area-congressman-boosts-Obama Barack Obama with his northeast campaign coordinator, Rep. Steve Rothman. Barack Obama remains a mystery to many New Jersey voters who are still uncertain where he stands on key issues, according to NORPAC, the Englewood-based pro-Israel political action group. "Nobody knows that much about him, which is a big concern," said Ben Chouake, NORPAC's president. "He's an unknown." After sweeping last week's Iowa caucus, Obama came in second in this week's New Hampshire primary following Hillary Clinton's come-from-behind win. U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, who became the northeast coordinator for Obama's campaign last year, said the senator has much to offer the Jewish and pro-Israel communities. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3724/1/McCain%92s-Jewish-support-spans-the-political-spectrum John McCain speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition's forum in Washington on Oct. 16, 2007. Courtesy of RJC John McCain's reputation as a maverick holds true in the Jewish world, where his list of allies spans the political spectrum. His long-term support for Israel and human rights issues along with his willingness to cross party lines have won him allies among conservative Republicans, independent Democrats, and even some liberal Jews. Beth Young Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3723/1/Candidates-court-Jewish-Voters Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose Israel repertoire has grown since she became a U.S. senator, stands at Jerusalem's Western Wall on Nov. 14, 2005. Brian Hendler/JTA People here are going to be happy to hear that," the Clinton campaign worker said, learning that U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) had top approval ratings in the field of presidential candidates among Jewish Americans The news, delivered by a reporter last month, was especially welcome in the Clinton camp because her lead in nomination polls - nationally and in early state polls - was slipping. Seven years of hard work cultivating the Jewish leadership in New York and nationally had paid off for Clinton. Her approval rating among Jewish Democrats, according to the American Jewish Committee poll, was 70 percent. Among all Jews it was 53 percent. Ron Kampeas Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3699/1/Newsmakers-of-2007 It's that time of year again - the beginning, when we look back at the year we've escaped by the skin of our teeth and name the "newsmakers." We've been doing this for 13 years now, and we like the perspective it gives us, and readers. We seek not to judge but to inform, and to that end we created criteria that have served us well over the years. • First, newsmakers must come from or have links to this region and have done something newsworthy, for good or ill. • Second, they may have strongly stirred the community's interest and/or emotions. • Third, they may have brought an issue to the public's attention. • Fourth, they may have compelled or challenged the public to re-examine its beliefs and/or behavior. Thus the newsmaker of the year can only be Metropolitan Schechter High School.... Jewish Standard Staff Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3676/1/Why-the-Embassy-Chain-in%3F At precisely 10:05 on the morning of Thursday, April 9, the gate of the Soviet Embassy in Washington was slammed shut, and 16 students, members of the Philadelphia Committee for Human Rights Now, proceeded to handcuff themselves to it. Each demonstrator wore the name of a Russian Jew who is in a Soviet labor camp or who has been refused an exit visa after publicly proclaiming his determination to emigrate. Within half a minute a 17th demonstrator arrived and proceeded to distribute three huge posters: "Mr. Kosygin, Honor Your Promise," "Allow the 80,000 Families to Leave," and "Let My People Go." [Alexei Kosygin was premier of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980.] A chain, symbolic of the oppression of the Russian Jew, was held up by four of the students. Within five minutes, the press was there…. Jay Blum Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3675/1/Refuseniks-at-home Ida Nudel, a former Russian refusenik, is pictured in her Rehovot apartment in June. JTA/Brian Hendler TEL AVIV - Yuli Edelstein may be approaching 50, but his face retains the boyishness of the young Hebrew teacher in Moscow many years ago who organized secret classes and emerged as a leader in the struggle for Soviet Jewry. Edelstein was followed by KGB agents and eventually arrested. He was sent into exile on the Mongolian frontier, where he worked in a labor camp for three years. Now he is a veteran Knesset member and former immigration minister, He marvels at the force of the Soviet Jewry solidarity movement. Dina Kraft Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3674/1/%91It-became-like-a-snowflake-in-a-snowstorm%92 Linda Joseph Byron Linda Joseph Byron thinks back with pride on that long-ago day when she handcuffed herself to the gates of Soviet Embassy in Washington to protest the Soviet Union's refusal to allow Jews to emigrate. "I know it helped," said Byron, the daughter of long-time area Jewish activists Art and Miriam Joseph. "There were many thousands of other people who did similar things. It became like a snowflake in a snowstorm." Byron was only 19 and a self-described "Jewish American Princess" at the University of Pennsylvania on April 9 in 1970 when she and 16 other students were arrested for chaining themselves to the embassy gates. The now-defunct Philadelphia Evening Bulletin quoted her as saying, "We demand Soviet Jews be given the right to leave the USSR." Rebecca Kaplan Boroson Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3673/1/Helping-refuseniks-is-high-point-of-his-life Dr. Victor Borden I've been a physician for more than 30 years," says Victor Borden, a gynecologist and obstetrician whose office is in Englewood. "I've brought more than 4,000 children into this world. I've treated ill people and kept people from getting ill. I have two wonderful children, four spectacular grandchildren, and a marriage of over 41 years that has been meaningful and wonderful." All of that, he stresses, has been "rewarding and fulfilling" - but helping Soviet Jews "gain their freedom is my crowning achievement, the most important thing I have done." Rebecca Kaplan Boroson Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3672/1/The-Soviet-Jewry-campaign%3A-A-timeline Editor's note: The Soviet Jewry movement is commonly reckoned as starting in 1967, the year of the Six Day War, hence the 40th anniversary this year. But in a sense it started earlier. See the timeline below. April 1964: Two national organizations are created: the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry in New York and the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry in Washington, D.C. May 1, 1964: 1,000 Jewish students protest outside the Soviet Mission to the United Nations in New York, the first such street demonstration on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Sue Fishkoff Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3671/1/The-Soviet-Jewry-campaign-transformed-American-Jewry%2C-too Oct. 1973: More than 100,000 people demonstrated at a Simchat Torah Freedom Rally for Israel at City Hall in New York City. Photo courtesy of NCSJ When Jacob Birnbaum began knocking on dormitory doors at Yeshiva University in the spring of 1964, he only half-believed anyone would answer. The young British activist had come to New York to mobilize a grassroots campaign to draw attention to the plight of 3 million Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain - a cause that was being largely ignored by the world Jewish community. He turned first to the modern Orthodox campus with its high concentration of Jewishly committed students. Sue Fishkoff Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3646/1/The-fight-to-bring-anti-Semitism-to-the-screen A look at the production of 'Crossfire' and 'Gentleman's Agreement' 60 years ago "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947) with Gregory Peck, Celeste Holm, John Garfield, Gene Nelson, Robert Karnes. Courtesy of Photofest, Copyright Twentieth Century Fox Sixty years ago this month, Twentieth Century Fox released "Gentleman's Agreement," a film that focused on the question of social anti-Semitism in America. Its release was well anticipated, for before 1947 no motion picture had ever dealt with this controversial topic. But, although championed by Darryl F. Zanuck, its crusader producer, most in Hollywood were fearful about its reception by American audiences. Following by just a few months the release of "Crossfire," a mystery about the puzzling murder of a Jewish veteran, there was tension within the film community about why such films were being made. In fact, strong efforts had been made on a number of fronts to keep both motion pictures from being made. Eric Goldman Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3617/1/Rabbi-gives-students-perspective-on-missionaries Mitch Goldman of Jews For Jesus has been speaking at Jewish high schools for several years. He throws everything he has at his listeners to get them to understand that accepting Jesus makes them better Jews. "I take their questions and show them first-hand why they need to accept Yeshua as their messiah," "Goldman" - the alter ego of Rabbi Tovia Singer - said in a telephone interview. "The tension in the room becomes heightened very quickly." With students often left angry and confused, "Goldman" leaves the stage and Singer soon comes out to refute everything "Goldman" just said and instruct the audience on how to protest other proselytizers. Josh Lipowsky Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3616/1/Messianics-are-praying-the-%91Shema%2C%92--but-preaching-Jesus-as-the-messiah Karol Joseph of Jews for Jesus gives an evangelical spin on the meaning of matzoh at Living Springs Family Center, a storefront Pentecostal church in Brooklyn. Joseph gives the "Christ in the Passover" presentation at congregations across the United States. Photo Barry Yeoman CARY, N.C. - The Shabbat morning service at Cong. Sha'arei Shalom in this suburb of Raleigh has a familiar feel to anyone who grew up in a mainstream American synagogue. Sixty adults and a handful of children have gathered in a sanctuary adorned with seven-branched menorahs and an Israeli flag. Many of the men wear yarmulkes and tallitot; the women are well-dressed but not ostentatiously so. After morning prayers and a silent Amidah, a congregational leader opens a small ark and removes a Torah scroll. He holds it aloft as the room fills with the familiar chanting of the "Shema" and "Echad Eloheinu." Before the Torah procession begins, the worshippers recite an additional prayer in Hebrew: "Yeshua hu ha-Mashiach hu adon hakol," meaning "Jesus, He is the messiah, and He is Lord over all." Sha'arei Shalom, which meets in a Southern Baptist church, is part of the burgeoning phenomenon: Messianic "synagogues" that blend Jewish liturgy with a Christian message. In the 1970s, no more than a handful of these congregations existed throughout the United States. Now there are more than 300 nationwide - the Association of Messianic Congregations says 438 - plus another 100 in Israel. Congregations are found across the former Soviet Union and in countries as diverse as Argentina, the Netherlands, and Zambia. Last fall, 1,000 people attended a fund-raiser for a new Messianic center in Berlin launched by the Chosen People Ministries and aimed at reaching Russian immigrants. Many of these congregations sponsor Torah studies, b'nai mitzvot, klezmer concerts, kosher food pantries, Shabbat dinners, singles gatherings, and Hebrew schools. They encourage Jewish-born members to maintain their identities and participate in events sponsored by the larger Jewish community. They call Jesus by the Hebrew name "Yeshua," and the Christian scriptures "B'rit Chadashah." They welcome interfaith couples. The goal, movement leaders say, is to create an atmosphere where Jews feel more receptive to a Christ-centered theology. "A lot more people are coming to faith in Yeshua through Messianic congregations than ever would through street evangelism," says Mitch Glaser, president of the New York-based Chosen People Ministries. "It not only brings Jewish people face to face with the message, but it brings them heart to heart with people who have been impacted by the message." Evangelists call this "contextualization," presenting the Gospel in a cultural format that welcomes potential converts. In Muslim countries, Christian missionaries sometimes fast during Ramadan, prostrate themselves during prayer, and refer to their churches as "Jesus mosques." Though it is not a new strategy, missionaries have used contextualization with increasing skill and subtlety. To Jewish watchdogs this goes beyond old-fashioned "witnessing," or sharing of faith. They say it smacks of fraud: the use of familiar practices and symbols to lure people away from their faith. "This is Jewish identity theft," says Scott Hillman, former executive director of Jews for Judaism, a Baltimore-based organization that tracks missionary efforts. "What kind of witness is it for what you believe to be true if you have to use deception to sell it?" Hillman says he does not oppose evangelizing per se, as long practitioners are upfront about their Christianity. "But the moment you put up a sign saying 'Yeshua's the messiah; fulfill your Judaism,' that's when I have a problem," he says. Most mainstream Jews believe that Christianity and Judaism are mutually exclusive, no matter what evangelists claim. "Belief in Jesus as the messiah places you outside the Jewish community's self-definition," says Lawrence Schiffman, chair of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University. "That is a fact." • The theological differences between Judaism and Christianity are deeper and more complex than the issue of Jesus' messiahship. For instance, Judaism says God forgives repentant sinners; Christianity describes an irreparable breach that could have been bridged only by Jesus' death. Judaism has the righteous of all nations being saved; Christianity says heaven is reserved exclusively for those who recognize Jesus as messiah. When the two religions diverge, Messianic Jews tend to side with Christians. This is no accident. The Messianic movement is rooted in evangelical Christianity. Even today, many Messianic congregations are aligned with conservative Protestant denominations. The Southern Baptist Convention, Assemblies of God, Seventh-day Adventists, International Church of Foursquare Gospel, Evangelical Church of America, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and Presbyterian Church in America all sponsor Messianic congregations. Ray Gannon, who directs Jewish outreach for the Assemblies of God, says his denomination initially tried to assimilate converts from Judaism without much success. "It became clear to us that we would not be able to plant our new Jewish believers in established churches because of cultural differences," he says. "They'd say, 'We're Jews, and we want our children and grandchildren to be Jews. We want to have bar mitzvahs.'" Today, Gannon says, "We're not interested in filling our churches with Jewish people. We're interested in enabling Jewish people to enjoy the best things of Jewish life while at the same time entering a real relationship with God." One of Gannon's converts, Esther Rosenberg, was suffering from a painful spinal disease in the 1970s when in desperation she attended an Assemblies of God church. Receiving her attendance card, Gannon approached her and invited her to a Torah study session at a Jewish-Christian home. It was at that study, Rosenberg claims, that her symptoms lifted. "I felt the 'ruach Elohim,' I felt the spirit of God, come upon me," she says. "It was a big thing, a big tzimmis. For the first time I could sit in a chair for more than 10 minutes without excruciating pain." Now affiliated with a Foursquare Gospel church, the 77-year-old Rosenberg also attends two Messianic congregations, "so I don't lose my Yiddishkeit. I was not intending to be a goy, a shiksa, because I had accepted my messiah." Over the past two years, some Messianic leaders have questioned whether their movement is too aligned with evangelicals. The opening volley came in 2005 when theologian Mark Kinzer published a book called "Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism," arguing that accepting Christ does not release a Jew from certain religious obligations such as keeping kosher and observing Shabbat. Kinzer is president of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, which is based in Clermont, Fla., and is building a campus in Los Angeles. He believes that Messianic congregations have an obligation to preserve those practices - not as a form of "contextualized" Christianity but rather as what he calls an authentic Judaism. "God's covenant with Israel necessitates a certain way of life," he says. "It's not an option. Any message that alienates Jews from Judaism is not the Gospel. You haven't saved a Jewish soul." Kinzer agrees that Messianic Jews are "summoned" to share their faith, albeit in a manner sensitive to the long legacy of Christian anti-Semitism. Unlike many of his peers, Kinzer does not necessarily believe salvation is at stake. "I'm less confident of the negative spiritual status of the wider Jewish world," he says. "I'm willing to believe there are many Jewish people who are right with God." Kinzer has a core of supporters, but he remains in a minority. Loren Jacobs, a self-described evangelical Protestant who serves as senior rabbi at Congregation Shema Yisrael in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., calls Kinzer a "heretic" for suggesting, among other things, that mainstream Jews might have a place in heaven. Even some Messianic moderates say Kinzer's ideas sound too much like "interfaith dialogue," in which proselytizing is sacrificed for peaceful relations. "I can agree to give up the word 'missionary.' It provokes intense dislike among most Jews," writes retired economist David Stern in the journal Kesher, published by the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. "Nevertheless, the New Testament's Great Commission commands us to go into all the world and make disciples. Failure to do so is the worst form of anti-Semitism." • Michael L. Brown, a prolific speaker on the evangelism circuit, says Messianic congregations serve one primary purpose. "We're not here to recover our Jewishness," says Brown, president of ICN Ministries in Harrisburg, N.C. "We're not here to teach Christians how to recover their Jewish roots. We're here to send a message to the Jewish community about Jesus." Brown believes that this congregational approach produces more "lasting fruit" than missionary blitzes like Jews for Jesus' 53-city "Behold Your God" campaign, which ended in the summer of 2006. Some Messianic congregations do perform street evangelism. At Shema Yisrael, members distribute brochures at art fairs and the local Thanksgiving parade. Most take a more intimate approach, urging members to bring friends to Shabbat services and social gatherings. "The best way of telling other people about Jesus is through our web of personal relationships," says Glaser of the Chosen People Ministries. When Jews attend congregational events and come away touched, he says, "it's more powerful than trying to disseminate forensic or provable truth." Smart programming helps, too. On New York's Long Island, Melech Yisrael Messianic Synagogue used the 2006 movie "The Da Vinci Code" to attract prospective members from the surrounding Jewish community. Before the film's opening, Melech Yisrael sponsored a four-week discussion group that culminated in a screening and dinner. During one meeting, "we read samples from the Gnostic Gospels," congregation leader Kiel Cooper wrote in a recent issue of Kesher. "Several people then asked if we could read a Gospel from the Bible to see what it had to say. When was the last time a Jewish person asked you to read Matthew with them?" Members of Sha'arei Shalom insist their goal is not to proselytize. Still, the North Carolina congregation was founded by Chosen People Ministries, a group zealously devoted to winning Jews to Christ. "Every Messianic congregation needs to do proclamation and outreach," says Glaser, the organization's president. "It's a biblical command. It's not elective." That perspective is reflected in Sha'arei Shalom's guest preachers. One frequent speaker has been Seth Postell, a doctoral student at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif. A former Jews for Jesus street campaigner, Postell also did missionary work in Israel for nine years, and says he received a criminal citation there for distributing copies of the Christian scriptures on a beach. He returned to Israel in June to lead a nine-day trip featuring "prayer walking and beach evangelism." To watchdog groups, preachers like Postell confirm the impossibility of separating Messianic congregations from more traditional missions such as Jews for Jesus. "Even if they aren't constantly proselytizing to their friends and neighbors, they're still hearing that message about how we need to support those who spread the Gospel," says Hillman, the former Jews for Judaism director. On a windy day last fall, members of Sha'arei Shalom listened to a message about the importance of evangelism from Michael H. Brown, pastor of Adat Y'shua Ha Adon, a congregation in Woodland Hills, Calif., and who is not related to the ICN Ministries' Michael L. Brown. Using the Christian scriptures as his reference, Brown cast Noah, using the Hebrew name Noach, as an early evangelist preaching righteousness to his neighbors as he built the ark. "It's very clear from the Scripture that Noach wasn't just working by himself," says Brown. "There were people coming up to him saying, 'What in the world are you doing?' And he was witnessing to people for maybe up to 120 years." Similarly, Brown says, Messianic believers are called to proclaim their faith, particularly to Jews. "I wonder what ark God is wanting you to build in your life," he says. "Could it be to witness to some co-worker or some family member?" Brown acknowledges this is difficult work: "Noach didn't have any converts for 120 years." That, he says, doesn't lessen the imperative. "We need to be a verbal witness to people around us," he explains. "I'm not saying shove it down their throat. I'm not saying beat them over the head with it. But people need to know where we stand."   Barry Yeoman Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3615/1/Cross-purposes Growing evangelical movement finding new ways to proselytize An arctic blast has emptied the streets of the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, yet inside the Living Springs Family Center, a storefront Pentecostal church with stamped-tin ceilings, the space heaters are cranked up. So is the music, an upbeat gospel heavy on guitar and electric keyboard. Thirty Caribbean immigrants belting out Psalm 113 lift and lower their arms to suggest the cycle of the day: "From the rising of the sun; Unto the going down of the same; The name of the Lord is to be praised." Hips swivel. The floor trembles. Neighbors embrace. Barry Yeoman Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3586/1/In-search-of-GELT Amy Klein is religion editor for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, where this article first appeared. The Jews may have saved the Temple, beaten the Greeks, and made a measly bottle of oil last for eight days, but can anyone figure out why we eat chocolate gelt? My family didn't do Chanukah presents. Each year, as winter barraged us in Brooklyn - mean, cold sleet, mounds of blackened snow - Chanukah snuck in, to warm our homes. Twenty-five years ago, the American holiday marketing blitz had hardly begun: There were still quiet moments between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the Jewish and non-Jewish holidays were not yet inextricably intertwined. No one insisted on pareve holiday displays and "season's" greetings, not in our neighborhood, anyway. Amy Klein Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3551/1/Orthodox-criticism-of-Olmert-foreshadows-left-right-showdown Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert found himself under criticism this week by America's largest Orthodox group, foreshadowing a likely showdown between left-wing and right-wing Jewish groups. The Orthodox Union, which claims to represent about 1,000 synagogues, issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Olmert for not defending Israel's right to Jerusalem in the face of Palestinian claims on parts of the city during his speech at the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md. Ami Eden Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3550/1/Will-Annapolis-spur-progress-on-Syrian%2C-Saudi-peace-tracks%3F Palestinians attend a protest in Gaza on Tuesday, organized by a Hamas-led faction, against the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA) JERUSALEM - While the Annapolis conference was meant to focus on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, the attendance of Syria and Saudi Arabia has raised questions about the prospects for peace between Israel and the wider Arab world. Syria came up because, contrary to expectations, Damascus sent a delegate to Annapolis to talk about trading peace for the Golan Heights. And the attendance at Annapolis of all 22 Arab League member countries, led by the influential Saudis, suggested that normalization of ties between Israel and the Arab world could be in the cards.     Leslie Susser Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3549/1/Hopeful-messages-at-Annapolis-met-with-distrust%2C-hostility-at-home JERUSALEM - As the Annapolis conference kicked into high gear, Israeli TV stations broadcast commentary from besuited correspondents lined up in front of cloudy Chesapeake Bay. But one reporter, Yinon Magal of Channel 10, chose a more modest urban backdrop: the southern Israeli town of Sderot, its streets deserted for fear of Kassam rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip. "Residents here know that no matter what happens, in the end they get Kassams falling on their heads," Magal said when asked whether the people in Sderot seemed interested in the Annapolis peace summit. Roy Eitan Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3548/1/Meeting-of-minds What comes next? U.S. President George W. Bush hosts an expanded meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, right, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the Middle East peace conference at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. on Tuesday. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES) The major breakthrough: Bush agrees to arbiter role ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The most striking concession to emerge from the Palestinian-Israeli talks this week came neither from the Israelis nor the Palestinians, but from the Bush administration. The United States agreed to become the sole arbiter of peace agreements between the sides - not only an about-face from a seven-year policy of "let the sides duke it out," but an unprecedented venture into waters even the hyper-involved President Clinton feared to enter. Ron Kampeas Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3521/1/How-to---handle-MRSA Don't scare the children - teach them Handwashing 101 Nurse Debbie Mendeloff shows first graders Dillon Fisher and Julia Scheinbach at the Solomon Schechter Day School in New Milford how to use an installed hand sanitizer gel dispenser. A number of these dispensers have been placed around the school, including the library, lunch, and computer rooms. PHOTO by amy levine I have seen MRSA in my office become more of an issue, just in the last year," reported dermatologist Marcy Goldstein, referring to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterial infection that has been recently reported to have caused the death of a middle-school student in Brooklyn. "Everyone gets it, it's not just kids," Goldstein continued. "It runs the gamut. It is not just in immuno-compromised people. It's become a much bigger issue than it was." Goldstein, a Teaneck resident with a Paramus-based medical practice, confirmed what the media have been reporting over the past few months: There are significantly more cases of infection with MRSA in the general population. An Oct. 17 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that the disease is no longer confined to hospitals and other health-care institutions. In fact, more than 40 teachers and students in New Jersey schools have been diagnosed with MRSA since September.   Dr. Miryam Wahrman Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3483/1/Blood-mobile-donated-by-Rinat-will-open-for-%91business%92-Thanksgiving-Day Bennett Deutsch stands with the bloodmobile he championed in this photo taken before its journey. photo by josh Lipowsky American Friends of Magen David Adom will sponsor a blood drive on Thanksgiving Day for American tourists in Jerusalem, tentatively at the King David Hotel. According to AFMDA Israel Representative Jonathan Feldstein, this will mark the first use of a new blood-mobile donated by members of Cong. Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck. "There was a great need to replace the entire fleet of blood-mobiles here," said Feldstein, who moved here from Teaneck three years ago. "This one is impressive in that it's high-tech with its own refrigeration system and generator. It's more user-friendly than the older ones." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3482/1/Thanksgiving--in-Israel Guests enjoy the annual Thanksgiving/anniversary feast at Hashmona'im. Photo by Scott Kirkpatrick Ever since they arrived in Israel from Teaneck in 2002, Robin and Avi Schreiber have enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner along with more than 200 neighbors in the social hall in their town of Hashmona'im. The feast is hosted by former Midwesterners Elliot and Leah Jaffe, whose anniversary falls on Turkey Day. "Generally, each participating couple brings a bottle of soda and either a salad or side dish or dessert," said Robin Schreiber. "The anniversary couple brings the turkeys. Many turkeys. And they decorate the social hall in anniversary paraphernalia and Thanksgiving decorations. It's quite a sight." Abigail Klein Leichman Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3452/1/Society%92s-focus-on-individual-choice-challenges-communal-commitments In 1985, Robert Bellah co-authored a book titled "Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life," which highlighted the centrality of personal autonomy and individual choice in the United States. As an example of this widespread phenomenon, he described a nurse, Sheila Larson, who "has actually named her religion (she calls it her 'faith') after herself." In her words, "My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice." In describing Sheilaism, she says: "It's just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think He would want us to take care of each other." Jacob Schacter Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3451/1/Engaging-young-philanthropists-means-opening-up-the-process With the annual General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities upon us, I have been asked to reflect on the challenge of engaging younger Jewish philanthropists in communal life. As a member of the next generation, I have wrestled with this question for more than a decade. Approximately five years ago at the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, we created a division called 21/64 (www.2164.net) to focus on this very challenge. "Engaging the next generation" used to signify the transference of leadership, like passing a baton from one generation to the next. Today, with the average life span increasing from 47 years old in 1900 to 78 years old in 2000, there are now four generations above the age of 21 in American society and four generations of adults who want to be engaged in Jewish life. Therefore, "engaging the next generation" actually means engaging multiple generations at once. Sharna Goldseker Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3450/1/Jewish-federations-matter%2C-but-are-they-working-well%3F North American federations could and should be doing much better than they are. They matter. They are important. They embody the ideas of community, common cause, and the ability to respond to collective concerns. They are vital institutions and we want them to succeed. Federations have been the hub of a vast system that involves community centers, family services, bureaus of Jewish education, and so many more organizations. But this system is becoming unglued and changes need to be made. Gary Tobin Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3449/1/UJC-realigning-itself-to-remain-central-address For generations, the North American Jewish federation system has stood as the central address of Jewish philanthropy - demonstrating from generation to generation the power of our collective to build our community. The 155 federations of United Jewish Communities and 400 smaller networked communities boast an annual fund-raising campaign nearing $900 million and endowment assets of more than $13 billion. Joseph Kanfer Howard Rieger Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3448/1/WHAT%92S-AHEAD-FOR-JEWISH-FEDERATIONS%3F Communal leaders to share strategies at General Assembly Campaigns and funding to be focus of federations' parley Next week's annual meeting of the North American network of Jewish charitable federations will focus on how to prop up annual fund-raising campaigns - but delegates should also expect requests for a big boost in funding for overseas causes. Nearly 4,000 representatives of 155 federations are expected to descend on Nashville next week for this year's General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities. Many of the workshops at the three-day gathering in the Tennessee capital will focus on practical techniques for stemming the slide in annual campaigns. Jacob Berkman Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MST http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3421/1/Walter-Isaacson%92s-Albert-Einstein%3A-Rebel-with-a-cause Science correspondent Walter Isaacson was managing director of Time magazine when Einstein was chosen as Person of the Century. Walter Isaacson, author of the new book "Einstein, His Life and Universe," speaks about Albert Einstein as if he were a beloved family member. He's come to know Einstein through years of research into Einstein's life, writings, creative processes, and scientific accomplishments. Isaacson's book reveals the deep connection Einstein had to his Jewish roots, as well as his belief in God as a Creator. But the author also acknowledges that he himself was influenced by learning of Einstein's depth of belief and pride in his Jewish heritage. "I've always been proud of my Jewish heritage," he told The Jewish Standard. "I know that my father and grandfather both worshipped Einstein." But Einstein's Jewish affinity "made me feel a closer kinship of my own, because I felt so warm about the way Einstein embraced his Jewish heritage." Dr. Miryam Wahrman Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3420/1/God-gets-a-rewrite Jewish fiction writers are re-imagining the Bible Samson is a blowhard; Sarah a rebellious, headstrong daughter who makes herself barren. Moses' wife is a freedom fighter, Nathan is a prophet beset by doubt and fear, and Rashi's son-in-law battles his evil inclination to love men. Sounds like the Jewish heroes and heroines of the Bible and the Talmud? Not exactly. That's because these are the new heroes of a burgeoning genre of modern literature: Jewish pulp fiction. These historical novels - and they are novels, despite their various levels of accuracy to the ancient time period in which they are set - star protagonists of old: from Genesis' Cain, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah (they have their own books), to Exodus' Moses, Miriam, and Tzipporah (separate and together), as well as characters from the prophets, like David, Nathan, and Samson, and even from the Megillot, such as Queen Esther and Ruth (who already have books named after them). Amy Klein Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3419/1/Of-making-many-books-there-is-no-end%2C-for-which-we-all-are-grateful Reproduced with the coopration of Historicana, publisher of the new edition of The Szyk Haggadah, www.szykhaggadah.com   Despite the beautiful poster reproduced at left, Jewish Book Month takes place this year from Nov. 4 to Dec. 4. The annual event dedicated to the celebration of Jewish books is observed during the month before Chanukah, so the dates change each year. The origins of Jewish Book Month go back to 1925, when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the West End branch of the Boston Public Library, set up an exhibit of Judaic books for what she called Jewish Book Week. In 1927, with the assistance of Rabbi S. Felix Mendelsohn of Chicago, the event was adopted by communities around the country. Scheduled to coincide with the holiday of Lag B'Omer during its first 15 years, in 1940 it was moved to the month before Chanukah in order to promote books of Jewish content as gifts. Over the years, Jewish Book Week became so popular that it was extended to a one-month period in 1943. On these pages we feature some very different kinds of books, to suit very different tastes. B'tayavon. Amy Klein Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3386/1/A-conversation-with-Abe-Foxman Abraham Foxman signs copies of his new book at an Oct. 9 publication party at the Four Seasons in New York. Courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League The following is an edited transcript of an interview conducted last month by Ami Eden, managing editor of JTA, with the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, about his new book, "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and The Myth of Jewish Control." Among other things, Foxman discussed criticisms of Israel and Jewish groups put forth by former President Jimmy Carter and scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. He also addressed the controversy over his initial refusal to use the word genocide to describe the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I. JTA: Why did you write the book? Ami Eden Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3385/1/With-book%2C-Foxman-grabs-lead-role---%91Israel-lobby%92---critics As patrons filed into Manhattan's 92nd Street Y to catch a sold-out appearance by Larry David, the scene outside was producing a punchline straight out of his HBO sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm." David and one of his "Curb" co-stars, Susie Essman, were the main event on that recent evening. But protesters had gathered outside to jeer the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, who was slated to speak - in another packed, albeit smaller, room - about anti-Semitism and his new book, "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and The Myth of Jewish Control." The demonstrators were voicing outrage over Foxman's initial unwillingness to characterize the World War I-era Turkish massacres of Armenians as genocide and his continued opposition to a proposed congressional resolution that would put America on record as using the g-word. Ami Eden Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 MDT http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3354/1/Earl-%91graduates-from-therapy%92 Adapted from a JFS of Bergen case study Earl, 8 years old, was mandated for treatment and referred to JFS by the Division of Youth and Family Services after his parents lost custody of him and his four siblings to his maternal grandmother. Earl's young home life had been horrific - traumatically abusive, cruel and unspeakable. His mother was drug addicted, in and out of jail, in and out of the home, entirely unavailab